A Great And Terrible Beauty
by Wishlesss Dandylion
Summary: Hiei and Kurama are sent to America as exchange students to make sure that an unknown human with enormous hidden demonic power is kept just that way, hidden. Can they survive their new target, or will fireballs fly? HieixOC later. R&R please.
1. Far From Home

This is my very FIRST fanfiction. The story has been wandering around inside my head for months and for some reason I decided to start on it at 12:30 at night…no idea. Anyway, this will be good practice for me for I plan on publishing a short novel within the next year and a half.

I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho and I KNOW I stole the title from a book, which I do not own either. I just really like the title, what can I say? And it fits quite well, as you'll soon find out...rated T for language and Hiei setting fire to a child.

"We're here, so tell us the 'urgent' reason you summoned us already." Hiei was growing impatient with Koenma's incessant stalling. He had ordered Botan to locate Hiei and Kurama immediately and bring them to his quarters. He gave no reason-only that it was a pressing matter that had to be tended to as soon as possible.

"Yes, please, tell us why we're here." Kurama was much better able to control his temper, even though he had been pulled out of an important exam during school hours. He too wondered what must have been so urgent as to take him out of his studies. He had not sensed any new demon, or spirit, energy in the city, so it could not possibly be a new demonic threat, at least none that he sensed. Koenma seemed extremely on edge, barely even looking up at the two demons standing before him.

"I'm very sorry for pulling you out of your studies Kurama; I know how important they are. Due to the dire circumstances, however, it was consequential that you two be summoned here immediately. We have a problem on our hands-a BIG one." A single trickle of sweat dripped down from his brow onto the cluttered desk he sat before. Kurama's expression changed from that of slight annoyance to that of worry and sensitivity. Hiei remained silent with an aggravated look upon his face.

"Are the others coming?" asked Kurama. He wondered why only he and Hiei had been brought before the toddler.

"No, it is only you two. I'll explain the reason later. Right now I must fill you in on the backdrop of our situation." And with the snap of his tiny fingers a large screen appeared behind them. A live video-feed of what looked like a bustling school appeared on the screen, but something was strange-none of the students were in uniform, as was customary through most of Japan. Hardly a one of them looked of Japanese descent, either; this made Kurama slightly nervous as to what they were about to be informed of, while this only made Hiei more aggravated that he was watching foolish humans on a video screen and not being told why he was there when he could be doing better things.

"Dammit, Koenma, what do you expect us to do with this? These are mere human children, none of our concern, mine especially," retorted Hiei. An expression that clearly said, 'Hiei, can you listen for ONCE before opening your mouth?' appeared across Kurama's face.

"I'm sorry Hiei, but these 'mere human children' are our main concern at the moment. And I see what you're thinking, Kurama. These high school children are not wearing the normal uniforms as you and your classmates do; that is because these students are not in Japan. They're not even on the same continent. You see, they live in North America, specifically America. Most of them are not required to wear uniforms. They-," he was cut short by another one of Hiei's curt responses.

"I don't care about they're dress, I want to know the reason why I'm here! So get on with it, or else I'm leaving." He was about to turn and walk right out until Kurama grabbed his arm without even turning in his direction, staring intently at Koenma. He knew that if he was concerned with these humans half-way across the world then the situation must be grave, indeed.

At Hiei's remark Koenma jumped, scared that he might suddenly burst into flames at any moment. He kept his resolve, however, determined to get out what he was trying to tell them.

"Aright, Hiei, if you're so urgent to get out of here, I can go ahead and give you the plane tickets and you two can be on your way." At this sudden statement both Kurama and Hiei had looks said, "…wtf?!" Hiei yanked his arm out of Kurama's grasp and stood facing the toddler, waiting for an explanation.

"That's right. You two are going over to America, specifically this school as exchange students for two weeks. The reason, as I'm sure you both are wondering, is about one specific student that has just recently caught our attention as a major threat. If it was only sustained within that community in a totally separate country from our own, I would not be troubled. However, this student's power has shown up as so great it has the possibility to destroy whole continents. My father has placed this responsibility upon my shoulders, and I have chosen you two to go." He looked almost embarrassed as the words left his mouth.

"What kind of power are we talking about, and why is it just now coming into our knowledge?" Kurama asked intently, wanting to know all he could about the undertaking.

"You both know how Yusuke had the power of Raizen trapped within him, unable to be released. Such power he had…" Koenma trailed off for a moment, looking nervous of what he was about to say, but continued. "Ahem! Anyway, this student, until recently a normal human, has just recently awakened a hidden power within him…a power greater than that of both Sensui and Yusuke. Luckily for us, the power has only awakened, not been released. He does not know about the energy which he embodies, or its consequences. We do knot know what he looks like, where he lives, or even a name, mainly because of the great number of people as well as low-class hidden demons in the city; it messes with our detection equipment. We only know that he takes a Japanese class, the class which you shall have with him. I'm sorry for so suddenly springing such information on you two at the last minute…it is brand new information."

Kurama looked as worried as ever, clenching his fists, a trickle of sweat dripping down his face. So many thoughts and questions were passing through his head. 'How had a child with such power passed through the advanced technology of Spirit World? If what Koenma describes is true, how can we possibly stop him? And why only us two; with this kind of mission, I would think Yusuke and Kuwabara would surely be involved…'

Hiei, on the other hand, had a slight smirk upon his face. 'Typical. This child sounded like a great challenge, especially if Koenma was true about his power being greater than that of Yusuke, the only man he has met to defeat him in battle. This will be great fun, indeed…' he thought.

"Why only us? Why not send Yusuke and Kuwabara to help dispose of this child? Hiei and I cannot possibly defeat such a power on our own…" Kurama said in an almost apathetic monotone.

"Hn, speak for yourself…" Hiei commented slightly under his breath, his smirk still going strong.

"You misunderstand me…I do not expect you to kill him, I only need you two to make sure that this power NEVER reaches the outer realm. His power, for now, is securely inside his body. He does not know of his hidden power, and it must remain that way. That's why I chose you two-your identities must remain secret, and you must also not let on about his power to anyone around…I honestly don't think Yusuke and Kuwabara could keep from somehow screwing that part of the plan up…in a sense, you two are playing…babysitters…" At this Hiei's smirk quickly disappeared and his look of aggravation quickly reappeared. Thinking on his feat, and hoping not to get barbequed, Koenma said, with arms flailing, "What I mean is, your jobs are to keep a close watch on him, making sure his power is far from being reached!! We could accomplish this from a distance, but it would be much more beneficial for someone, or someones, to watch him from, say, a few feet away!!" Koenma tried to keep his composure and his apparent nervousness at a minimum, even though Hiei's eyes, including his Jagan, embedded themselves deeply into his own in a very frightening way…

Kurama, at hearing this news, let out a sigh of relief, closing his eyes, only for a moment, and putting his hand on the back of his head in a show of gratitude that he would not have to deal with putting this human out of his misery. Hiei, on the other hand, looked about to light the place on fire with a slight twitch.

"BABYSITTING?! You called us on this 'extremely urgent' mission to BABYSIT?! Don't you think I have better things to do than look after a pathetic human who doesn't even know he has this supposedly amazing power hidden within his being? Pathetic…I refuse to be a part of this foolishness." And with that Hiei again attempted to leave, and yet again Kurama grabbed his arm, firmer this time.

Hiei was about to protest, quite violently to boot, when Koenma suddenly spoke in his direction.

"I chose the both of you so, in case something should happen, each could have help instead of being completely alone in a strange country. Hiei, I chose you for the specific reason that the power this child posses…resembles yours. He has a Jagan Eye, Hiei, only it has not appeared, as it will when…IF, his power is released…" Hiei's eyes suddenly grew side, sidestepping the fact that Kurama had not yet let go of his arm.

Hiei pondered the possibilities. 'Another with a Jagan, specifically one with such great power? Is there a way that…this mere, HUMAN, of all disgusting creatures, could master the Jagan better than I? No, never…I am the first and only Master of the Dragon of the Darkness Flame, and it shall remain so…his power shall never be released, if I have anything to do with it."

"I'm in." This shocked both Kurama and Koenma to the extent that both fell face first into the floor, sweat drops included. Hiei saw no humor in this, but produced his own small sweat drop at their obvious surprise at his response. "What the hell is so funny?!" he demanded. At this both sat up, Koenma suppressing a stifled laugh, Kurama producing a small chuckle. At this Hiei produced a small growl and both shut up.

"I didn't know if that would work…wow!" Koenma showed a look of supreme approval that Hiei agreed to the mission. "Kurama, you don't have to worry about school. I made Botan clear it with your school and they know that you shall be in a sort of exchange program. I hope that's alright."

"Thank you, Koenma. I shall tell mother that I'll be gone a for a few weeks. So, where exactly will we be going to?"

"It's a small city, Columbus, in a small state, Georgia. There's only a population of a few hundred thousand, nothing near our population. I think you'll be surprised at how spaced out it is. They don't have many of the congested buildings and neighborhoods as we do; there can be long stretches of forest and pasture with hardly anyone around." At this Hiei perked up, as he might be able to retreat to these forests if these American humans began to piss him off too much. Kurama, however, thought of these fields as a new experience. "You leave first thing tomorrow morning."

At such short notice Kurama produced a nervous chuckle, while Hiei seemed actually eager to start on the trip, showing a look of smugness across his face.

"I think I've told you all that you need to know-Oh! I forgot to mention. While you're there you'll be staying in a small hotel near the school. We've already taken care of all expenses. All you two will need are clothes and any other essentials. Kurama, there will be no need for uniforms, as I explained earlier; just bring regular clothes that you wear on a daily basis. Hiei…well, I won't even swart with you. Wear what you want." Koenma knew it would be no use trying to convince Hiei to change out of his traditional black garb into more…normal clothes; but at this Kurama produced a small smile. 'It will be quite different actually deciding what to wear each morning…' he thought.

"If there aren't any questions I'll let you two be off to get ready. Here are your tickets. Be at the Tokyo Airport in the morning no later than 7 o'clock in the morning…you two have a long flight ahead of you." At this Koenma handed them their tickets and summoned Botan to lead them out. She entered slowly, not knowing the initial problem which Koenma made her summon the two demons for in the first place. Seeing the pleased looks on Koenma's and Kurama's faces, however, made her perk up quite a bit.

"Alrighty then, are you both ready to go?" she asked. Hiei looked apathetically at her sudden appearance, while Kurama gave a grateful nod.

On the way out, Koenma could just barely make out Hiei asking Kurama what an airplane was.

THE NEXT DAY…

Kurama, with suitcase in hand, and Hiei, carrying one small bag, appeared right around 7 at the airport. Kurama wore casual pants, his typical school shoes, as they were most comfortable, a green t-shirt which he tucked into his pants, and an orange and white jacket. Hiei wore…what else, black pants, white scarf, black cloak. He got a few stares, but as usual, he gave them no attention. Kurama had no trouble making it through customs, although it was quite awkward when they insisted that his hair was a wig meant to conceal weapons. Hiei, on the other hand, had some trouble, as he refused to give up his katana to the "stupid fools who have no right to tell me what I can and cannot bring" in the airport. Before he lit the place on fire, or decapitated anyone with his taboo sword, Kurama managed to sneak it through without much trouble as well as calm Hiei down…don't ask how, he just did. It's Kurama, after all. They proceeded to walk aboard the plane, and Hiei became…nervous! He had never been surrounded by so many unknown faces, all of which he judged as an enemy, without any means of escape, as they would be thousands of feet in the air.

"How are you so calm being around all of these…humans? If we're attacked we have no logical means of escape…" whispered Hiei as he settled into his cramped window seat. He had better get comfortable-it was a 15 hour flight…

Kurama held back a laugh as he pulled out a reading book. "We're in a plane, thousands of feet above the air. Don't worry about it. I've sensed no one threatening on board, but if something does happen I have absolute faith that you can quickly take care of it." Hiei knew what Kurama meant, and smirked at his approval to 'take care of' anything that just happened to piss him off.

For the first hour or so Hiei looked lackadaisically out the window at the ocean and cities below; 'nothing of interest…yet' he thought as Kurama beside him reading his book. Kurama, remembering something, took out another book from a small carry-on and handed it to Hiei. Raising an eyebrow, he gave the redhead a questioning look.

"What's this for?"

"It's a Japanese-English dictionary. We are taught a moderate amount of English in school, so I think I shall be fine. You, on the other hand, don't know ANY. They generally don't speak Japanese in America-English is the native language. I brought this form home so you could study it." Kurama smiled gently at the bored demon, obviously not grasping the concept.

"And them not being able to understand me is what concern of mine?" All of this fast-paced change was pissing him off even more than he already was.

"Hiei, we're going to live there for two weeks. Because it's an exchange program they assume we know enough English to be there. If you don't, they'll be suspicious of our real intentions."

"Hn, fine. I'll scan through it with my Jagan. Should be easy enough to pick up on another foolish human language." Kurama seemed relieved that the heated demon finally agreed and continued reading his own book. And so for the next hour Hiei scanned through the 1200 page book with his Jagan, quickly memorizing and mentally storing the information. After a few more hours, both managed to fall fast asleep, Hiei leaning against the window, Kurama still with book in hand...until BAM!

Hiei was interrupted by his sleep by being nearly slammed into the seat in front of him. 'What the fuck was that?' he thought as he glanced behind him. A small boy, no more than seven or eight years old, was snickering as his sleeping mother sat beside him. Hiei glared at the child from the crack between his and Kurama's seats, then turned back around ready to resume his sleep. Then...BAM! Another slam came from behind, this time more violent than before. Hiei glared at thie child once more as he made a disgusting face at the annoyed demon. 'That's it!' he thought. He calmly turned back around, and just as he sensed the child rearing his legs back to kick him a third, and final, time, a sudden scream came blaring from the boy. Everyone in the plane abruptly woke up, thinking it was a terrorist attack! Then, the mother screamed as she noticed her child's hair was on fire. She quickly ran him the the bathroom as the stuardess came on the intercom to tell everyone to calm down and it was a minor accident. Kurama looked at Hiei, who only smiled mischieviously at his look of disappointment. Kurama sighed, told himself that as long as no one died it was ok, and eventually everyone on the plane fell fast sleep, with the exception of the now bald and smoldering boy who never kicked another seat for the rest of his life.

After what seemed like forever they heard the woman over the intercom announce that they had landed in the Atlanta Airport. Annoyed from being up in the air so long, Hiei was the first off the plain and onto solid ground where he collected his bag, after which followed Kurama. It was at least a two hour drive to Columbus, but Koenma had taken care of it. A special transportation vehicle met them at the Airport entrance and ushered them into the car, and after another two hours of travel they arrived at the entrance to the hotel. On the way both looked out the windows of the car at the fields where lone houses stood, completely separated from the hustle and bustle of the city. Hiei admired the trees and clearings, while Kurama focused upon the different flowers and plants that passed by. Hiei was by this point sick of travel and was eager to regain his energy, as was Kurama, though he was quite eager to begin the next day, which happened to be Monday, their first day at an American High School. Kurama checked them into the hotel and the proceeded into the room-suite, actually. Koenma had outdone himself. A large central room, two couches, a good sized television, glass doors leading to a balcony, two separate bedrooms and bathrooms. Hiei didn't care, as long as he had his windowsill to sit on.

Throwing his things on his bed, Kurama turned to Hiei. "Hiei, there's some things we need to talk about. You've never been to school, and Koenma told me in confidentiality after we left his office that I had to teach you the proper way to behave." At this Hiei shot him a warning look.

"Hn, I don't need directions on how to act, especially from you. I'll act how I want to, whether this school likes it or not." He was steadfast in his mindset.

"You might not regard this mission as that important, but it is still a mission. Technically you are still on probation, although you aren't in Japan anymore. Koenma made me promise to keep you under control and-" but he was cut off.

"Is that what the child calls it? I don't need to be kept 'under control,' unless something…unexpected happens." A small smirk appeared on his face as he sat looking out the window, sitting on the windowsill. "…but if that probation is still in effect, then I guess I have no choice." He reluctantly gave in as Kurama proceeded to tell him the things he had read in his book, the one he had been reading on the plane; it was all about American customs and etiquette. Some of them seemed quite pointless, but to Americans many of their own customs seemed just as pointless. They would find this out the following day. When Kurama was mainly finished Hiei, without so much as a nod, told Kurama he was going to bed, went into his bedroom, and closed the door. Kurama took this as Hiei's say of telling him to shut up, and decided to go to bed himself.

MONDAY MORNING!

A blaring alarm woke them up at 6:30 A.M. Kurama, being used to the early morning hours, had little trouble getting up…until he heard a loud banging coming from the connecting bedroom. "what has he done now…" Kurama thought as he opened Hiei's bedroom door. His eyes darted from the scattered pieces of what used to be an alarm clock on the floor to Hiei, still halfway wrapped in bed sheets. Hiei, a dreary look in his eyes, turned toward Kurama and pointed toward the broken pieces. "What the fuck was that?!" he asked in an angry voice which didn't suit his sleepy expression.

Kurama could not help but laugh at the oblivious demon. At this Hiei threw his Katana, which shot into the wall about three inches from Kurama's head. He stopped laughing, but his smile was still clear.

"I'm sorry Hiei; I should have warned you last night. School here starts at…" he looked at a piece of paper in his pocket, "7:45. I set the alarms for 6:30 so we would have plenty of time to get ready."

"Dammit…I'm still tired," Hiei replied not really directed at anyone. Kurama eventually persuaded him, with the help of a little ice cream, to get ready for the day ahead. They were ready to leave by 7:15 and went downstairs to meet the same vehicle that had taken them to the hotel the night before, except this time its destination was Columbus High School. Kurama wore something similar to what he wore the day before, and Hiei…well, you can guess. When they arrived Kurama asked around until he found the principal's office where Mrs. Whitt, the principal, introduced herself. Kurama proceeded to introduce himself and, as Hiei merely sat there looking bored, him as well. She showed them their schedules for the next two weeks and welcomed them to the school. She told them that if they needed any help finding their classes to ask any of the teachers, or most of the older-looking students who were supposed to know their way around the building after nearly four years. They looked at their schedules: they both had completely different classes except for Japanese 3 at the end of the day. Kurama was thoroughly worried at this, as he could not keep an eye on Hiei, so there would be no telling what he might do without him around. Hiei contained a sense of distain that he would not be with Kurama and would have to spend the next four weeks with stupid humans that he had no interest in getting to know. But they both agreed on one thing: at the end of the day, when they met this powerful human, their guards would be up, ready to attack at any moment.

Hiei was thoroughly bored throughout the day. His first class was Chemistry. How…fun. He walked in and, probably because of his unusual dress as well as his gravity-defying hair, and to the fact that they had never seen him before; he received blank stares and shady whispers. He curtly introduced himself to the teacher who showed him a seat in the back corner, next to who Hiei thought was the most ANNOYING girl in the world, a true Kuwabara in girl form. She would not . shut . UP. She asked him nothing but pointless questions about himself and was answered with nervous twitches from Hiei. Finally that torture was over and he proceeded to his next class, British Literature. He once again introduced himself to the teacher, who seemed like an American Botan, grabbing him by the shoulders and introducing him to the entire class. She urged him to tell the class something about himself, but the only thing he could muster was, along with an intense glare around the room, "I like to fight, and spar. I like sleeping, and I can already tell I don't like YOU." He nodded toward the teacher, who received him with an appalled look and snickers all around the room. He proceeded to take a seat in the back once again. This class did not turn out as bad as the last. The class was reading aloud from Beowulf, a gruesome story of heroism and death. Hiei liked it. After that class was lunch. He felt no desire to eat but managed to meet up with Kurama who incidentally had the same lunch period. Kurama apparently had a much better day that Hiei did, as he eagerly told of the new people he met and the things he learned, while Hiei proceeded to go to sleep. 'I guess it takes some getting used to…" thought Kurama with a smile. The bell rang and Kurama nudged Hiei awake and the grumpy demon proceeded to his next class: Art. Hiei could describe this class in one word: BORING AS HELL.

Finally it was the end of the day and both demons met before walking into the Japanese room. The teacher, Mrs. Schmitz, was thoroughly overjoyed in meeting them. She was originally from Japan, and proceeded in talking to Kurama in perfect Japanese while Hiei sat and stared at the door. They had been the first to arrive and eagerly awaited the coming of this monstrosity which Koenma described. After a minute students started showing up, none of particular interest. They greeted them in broken Japanese and Kurama did the same while Hiei just looked on in disinterest. By this time both were looking toward the door, senses erected for any sense of strange power that came near. Suddenly a shock went through both their bodies as a power like none they had ever felt before came closer and closer. The room was nearly full of students, now, so they guessed that this must be the last students. Figures.

Suddenly the door opened as the power was finally in their presence. They were amazed to find that this student was actually…a GIRL?!

Well that's it for the first chapter! Please, constructive criticism is encouraged. I love to improve myself and loathe comments like "OMG so funni!!" They're completely useless to me. I like to know that my story is appreciated, not be annoyed by the fact. So, please, if you submit a review, make it at least a complete sentence long, preferably with some light criticism that I can use to improve my already mad writing skills. Flame if you want, honestly I don't care. It's your opinion, not mine.


	2. A Schoolday To Remember

So, here's the next chapter. Hiei and Kurama meet their "target" a.k.a. WTF SHE'S A GIRL?!

I didn't want to post this chapter until I finished a drawing I did of the girl. When I picture someone I want everyone to picture what I think of, and a visual aid is always handy. So, here it is. As always, reviews are welcomed as well as constructive criticism. This chapter is WAY funnier than the last, and includes Hiei getting slapped in the face. Oh snap.

Once again I do not own any part of YYH as it belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi. NOW READ!

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Kurama and Hiei tried to control their stares of disbelief as this "continent destroyer" walked through the doors. Their combined thoughts echoed that of, "WHAT THE HELL?!" As she walked to her seat toward the front of the room, without so much as a glance in their direction, they noticed her appearance. She had a slender body, not too tall, around 5', 5'1." A bright red trench coat that came right below the hips draped her body, as well as a pair of grey skinny jeans and black ballet flats. Her natural dark brown, reddish hair came right past her shoulders in the front, with the ends naturally curly, while in the back was shorter. Her bangs came right above her eyes, emphasizing a pair of emerald-green pupils. She walked with a slight air of arrogance, not faltering in her steps for a moment. She set down her things and sat down in her seat, apparently not noticing the two on looking demons in the back of the room.

Hiei became thoroughly enraged at the fact hat the mighty Koenma had left out the fact that they were watching over a GIRL. Although he knew not to underestimate an opponent, he thought of women as frail creatures who were not fit for the ring. He thought, 'how could this human girl supposedly posses the power which he so desperately described? Destroy whole continents? Hn, I doubt it.'

Hiei was not the only one surprised by the situation; Kurama had thoughts running through his head, though slightly different from his friend's slightly sexist views. 'Why had Koenma not told us? I could have sworn he had said it was a male…yes, I'm sure of it. He had mentioned that he wasn't able to obtain a picture of him…eh, her. Still, can this girl have the same destructive power which he told of?'

Their thoughts were interrupted when they noticed the teacher standing at the front of the class, looking and pointing right at them. The whole class looked back at them, including a brief, uninterested glance by their target up front.

"We have two exchange students from Japan with us! They will be here for two weeks, so make them feet at home! Please," she motioned to them, "come down and introduce yourselves."

Kurama stood up first, followed by the reluctant Hiei. Standing at the front of the class, eyed by everyone, made them feel vulnerable. But this was an act that had to played out to the best of their ability; any falter could prove fatal to the overall mission.

"Hello, I-" he was cut off by the teacher.

"If you don't mind, introduce yourselves in Japanese, please. These are Japanese 3 students, so they should be able to easily understand your names and your ages." She smiled innocently as Kurama did so back. Hiei stood there, both apathy and annoyance building on his facial expression.

Kurama complied, expressing a genial appearance. "Watashi no namae wa Kurama desu. Juu nana sai desu." Several of the girls in class started whispering as they looked at both of them. He mentally sighed. 'Just like school back home…' He then glanced down at the short demon beside him, wondering what he might reply with. He couldn't possibly tell his real age, as he wasn't even sure Hiei knew himself.

Hiei made his reply short and semi-sweet. "Watashi no namae wa Hiei desu. Juu..roku sai desu." He faltered slightly on his age, but picked a number right below Kurama's: 16. Because of his stature he probably appeared younger, so he hoped this would be believable.

"Ah! Domo arigatou. Now, class, please stand up one by one and do the same for our guests." And so one by one the 24 students stood up and introduced themselves as they had. Some got their words mixed up, but most did so perfectly.

'Hn, supposedly an advanced class and they can't even tell their own name and age. Pathetic.' Hiei smirked at his own insult as the students continued down the line, until they got to the last girl on the end of the front row. Both listened and watched closely as she slowly stood up, seemingly appearing just as annoyed as Hiei, but responded compliantly.

"Watashi no namae wa Celia desu. Juu nana sai desu." She said it perfectly-no flaws. She then proceeded to sit down and, stealthily, slipped an ear bud into the ear facing away from the teacher, obviously trying to hid her music deprivation as well as her disinterest in the newcomers. Hiei raised an eyebrow at this, as he was nearly oblivious to human interests, especially involving pointless hobbies such as music.

Afterwards Kurama and Hiei began to walk back to the outskirts of the room, wanting to keep an eye on Celia without her knowing it, that is until the teacher stopped them.

"Please, don't sit way in the back! We want to get to know you both! I INSIST you two sit up front with the others." Although she kept her kind expression, her voice held a tint of dominance. Reluctantly they replied. As it turned out the only two available seats were right next to Celia, one beside her and one right behind her. Kurama took the one in the back, while Hiei shot a glare in his general direction while he sat down, crossed his arms and legs, and looked back at Kurama, who in turn glanced at the girl with the ear buds right in front of him.

"Konnichi wa!" Hiei almost fell out of his chair, as did Kurama. They both sweat dropped at the screeched greeting. It had apparently come from a girl sitting next to the fox who apparently took it upon herself to further introduce herself. Hiei cursed under his breath at the sudden distraction and he looked up and saw…

"You!" It was the same annoying, questioning girl from his Chemistry class! 'Shit…I have to put up with her two times a day?!' he thought.

"Hey! I saw you this morning! Coincidence, huh? You didn't talk much, and you don't seem to now…" she looked over at Kurama, "and neither do you, but I can change all that! I'm very talkative if you haven't already noticed and some people find me annoying, but I think I'm just friendly. Blah blah blah…" Her words became blurred as Hiei tried with his entirety to tune out this annoying girl. His eye twitched uncontrollably even looking at her. She had thick-rimmed glasses and messy orange hair that looked like it hadn't been brushed, or washed, in a week. Her oversized t-shirt said "Poke me!" which made him cringe even more. 'I wouldn't poke this girl unless it was with my sword straight through her throat. Hn, an obvious nerd. I'm glad Kurama doesn't resort to such juvenile attire.' Hiei looked over at the fox who looked only slightly less disturbed by this girl than he did. He let his guard down. Her voice etched its way back into his earlobes.

"…so I don't know why they say things like that but I guess I'll never understand restaurant managers. Anyway, how's Japan? Have you lived there all of your lives?" She continued on and while Kurama was about to try and answer some of her questions, being the nice guy that he is, and Hiei was about to shut her up a voice interjected.

"Charlotte, shut up. I'm sure they don't care about whatever the hell you're talking about, because I know I don't." Hiei and Kurama, startled by the sudden insult, looked over at who had said it. It was none other than Celia. Kurama was taken back by the insult while Hiei was mildly impressed. By her appearance he had figured her to be a more laid back version of Botan, but it seemed that she possessed an attitude.

"Jeez, I was just TRYING to be nice, unlike you who just sit there and say nothing our new classmates. Hmph!" To their relief she curtly turned back around and started working on what appeared to be a Japanese worksheet.

Celia turned around so she was facing both Kurama and Hiei. Just minutes before she had acted as if they didn't even exist and now she was standing up for them. She took an ear bud out so she could hear what they were saying, apparently about to start a conversation.

"Sorry about her. She does that to everybody, everyday. Doesn't have many friends, and I don't think I need to explain why." She got a glare from Charlotte, and was returned with a quick flick of a certain finger. Charlotte scoffed and continued to work on her worksheet more vigorously than ever. Hiei snickered. Any attempt to make that disgusting creature as unhappy as possible was fine by him.

'Well, since we're right here in the situation I guess we should find out as much as we can about her.' Kurama's voice echoed in Hiei's brain. Hiei gave a glance that said he agreed.

"Hello, is anyone in there? Neither of you are saying anything." She waved a hand in front of Hiei's face to see if he was paying attention. He was. He grabbed her wrist in his hand. He would take no chances with this one.

"Don't touch me," he said in an almost threatening voice, his grip growing slowly tighter. She looked at him like he was mad.

"Hiei," Kurama whispered though almost gritted teeth, worried that his friend might blow their cover.

"What, I'm not hurting you, am I?" A sinister smile appeared on his face.

She twisted her arm until she broke free of his grip, her other hand fingering the small red marks on her wrist. "Little bastard…" she said under her breath. Apparently Hiei heard her, for a triumphant smile came upon his face. Kurama looked on disapprovingly, mentally scolding Hiei for being so boorish.

"So you are awake…" she eyed him suspiciously. She disregarded the incident and instead tried to start conversation. 'Well, I know not to wave anything in front of this one for fear of losing my hand.'

"Well…I guess I'll start. If you don't remember my name's Celia. I think I was zoned out when you two were up there so your names are…?"

"I'm Kurama and this is Hiei. It's very nice to meet you. I'm sorry for my friend's rudeness. He has personal space issues." At this Hiei shot him a 'what did you just say?!' glance; Kurama smiled innocently.

"So I see. I'll make a mental note of that. So, is this your first time in America?"

"Yes, for both of us. I find it all very interesting. The people, the sights, it's all very new. We have large cities while here there are many fields and open spaces—it's a nice change." Kurama fell quiet as he thought about the fields they passed when they were on their way to the hotel. Celia raised an eyebrow.

"Uh huh…eh, it's ok. Being here all of your life doesn't really make it any better, but those kinds of places are nice to escape to if you need to think or just…get away." An almost depressing look came across her face. For some reason Hiei felt like this was his chance to say something—he was letting Kurama do all of the talking. But the only think he could muster was,

"What were you listening to?" Kurama and Celia both looked up from their thoughts, taken back by Hiei's first attempt at such a random conversation starter. "What?" He merely looked at them like they were idiots. Sure, he wasn't the biggest music know-it-all in the world, hell he rarely even listened to the stuff. But like Kurama had said, they should find out as much as possible about her. To him it seemed like a logical question.

"Oh…you mean my music? Just a lot of different things. I'm not really a one genre type of person, although my favorite by far is hard rock. But give me anything with a good beat and lyrics and I'll probably like it, as long as it's not country or pop." She shuddered at the thought of those horrid categories. Before she could continue she noticed a hand reaching towards her…breast! As if on command her own hand came to meet the oncoming one and grabbed the wrist just as Hiei had done hers. And who else's hand could it have been?

"Hiei!" Kurama was shocked at Hiei's attempt at obvious perversion. Hiei looked back at him with a questioning gaze, apparently not realizing what he had just attempted to do. He realized that someone was grabbing his wrist, and looked up at a fuming Celia. At this he shot his signature death glare; she tightened her grip.

"What?" he asked in a commanding yet questioning manner. His fingers reached down to grab…the ear bud. He was reaching for the ear bud attached to her MP3 player that she took out of her ear and which just happened to fall right below her breast. Because she had not given him a direct answer to his question he had decided to find out for himself.

She looked down to see what he was really reaching for and in turn loosened her grip on him slightly. He yanked his hand loose and put the bud in his ear. Kurama's hand flew up she slapped himself right in the forehead at his friend's lack of knowledge of what it seemed like he had just attempted to do. Celia sat, mouth agape, as Hiei sat there and listened to the music with a blank stare; she wanted to him. Hiei, once again, looked at them as if they were idiots.

After about another half hour of conversation and glares the final bell rang to release the students from the torture that was school. Everyone in the room began to gather their belongings, ready to leave as soon as possible. Kurama and Hiei got up as well, and although they did not carry anything with them into the room, Hiei left with something: a red mark on his cheek that could barely be made out in the shape of a handprint.

"Ja mata ashita," she said to them as she started to walk out the door, waving back at Kurama and glaring back at Hiei. He glared back, daggers gleaming in his crimson eyes. They watched her go as she met with who they guessed was a friend of hers in the parking lot and they walked off campus together.

"Well, you can't blame her for doing it, Hiei. You practically groped her. Honestly, knowing how we both feel about the way Yusuke acts back home towards the girls I would have expected better from you." Honestly Kurama thought it was quite funny. It was the first time he had ever seen Hiei get bitch-slapped by a woman and he couldn't help but snicker, even now as they stood outside the doors to the school.

"SHUT UP!" Hiei snapped through gritted teeth, jamming his hands in the pockets of his cloak and stalking off in front of the demon. Even at this Kurama couldn't help but produce a smile. They reached the car that was supposed to take them back to the hotel and got inside.

"Well, I'd say that today was quite productive. We found out some general information about her that we can convey back to Koenma."

"Speaking of Koenma, when we get back remind me to chew him out about not telling us it was a damn girl." Hiei still had not fully gotten over the fact that they had to watch over a girl, one who had the gall to slap him at that. When they returned to the hotel he snatched the key out of Kurama's hand, opened the door, and began throwing both his and Kurama's things all over the floor looking for the communicator Compaq that Koenma had given them to keep in touch. 'Oh, he's going to get it…"

"Hiei, what are you-WHATCH IT!" he was nearly hit in the head with one of his own shoes that was being thrown around the room by the frustrated demon. He walked to the opposite side of his room and from one of his bags pulled out the communicator. "Is this what you're looking for?"

"Give it here, fox."

"If you're so angry about the situation why don't you ask Koenma to send you home? I think that I can handle it from-" He didn't even get to finish the sentence.

"Excuse me? Hn, going back to Japan is the last thing on my mind at this point. She's started a war. You know better than anyone I'm not one to give in so easily to a challenge. I plan on staying here as long as it takes; I refuse to let this human girl defeat me." He glared back at Kurama, who just smiled at the answer that he had expected.

"Alright, if you insist," he said as he tossed the communicator to Hiei who caught it easily. He opened it and immediately a hazy screen came up, followed by a picture of a sleeping Koenma, sprawled out on top of the many papers that littered his desk, a trail of drool leading from his agape mouth to the desk. Hiei became furious at the tiny king's laziness.

"KOENMA YOU BASTARD, WAKE UP!" Immediately a high-pitched scream came from the tiny device, temporarily causing Hiei to become deaf. Kurama came behind him at this point to watch as Koenma slowly rolled off his desk and onto the floor.

"WHATHAPPENEDIDIDN'TDOITIPROMISE!!" was his garbled response. He looked up from his drool puddle, his hat crooked, to see a steaming fire demon glaring back at him. At this he produced another scream.

"Dammit, Koenma, shut up!"

"Hiei, please."

"Kurama, I'll deal with you later for what you said earlier. Right now his 'mighty ruler' is my concern." Apparently he had not forgotten about the comment Kurama had made about the slap.

Koenma composed himself and spoke cautiously to the steamed fire demon. "Ah, Kurama, Hiei, how are you doing so far? Did you find out anything about him?"

"Oh, yes, we found out much about HER," Hiei said in an obviously sarcastic tone. Koenma produced a questioning look.

"What are you talking about, 'her?'"

Kurama butted in this time, afraid of the scolding that Hiei was about to give Koenma, but did so cautiously because of the treat he had just given him. "Koenma, hadn't you told us that you were not able to acquire any visuals of our target?"

"Yes, that is correct."

"Well, you were wrong to assume that we were to watch over a male. You see it's-" Once again he was cut off.

"IT'S A FEMALE!" Hiei felt relieved that he had finally said it.

"…Oh…..well then, I'm sorry for the…..wait…..WHAT?!"

* * *

Stopping! I like leaving cliffhangers—leaves the readers guessing. I've gotten three reviews, not as many as I had expected, but oh well. It is my first story so I can't get my hopes up to much. But thanks for those who did review, favorite, etc. Please review on what you think about it so far. Anyway, thanks to all the readers and I'll probably be posting the next chapter within the next week or two. D 


	3. Merely A Stare Away

Whoo chapter three yaay…as you can tell I try and post a new chapter about every week. I like to keep regular, you know.

We left off where Kurama and Hiei returned to the hotel and contacted Koenma about the day's happenings, which happened to entail that their target turned out to be a GIRL! On with the chapter!

* * *

"What do you mean he's a girl?!" Koenma slammed his hands down on his desk in frustration, making several of his papers cluttering it fly into the air.

"I think I know a female when I see one." By this point Hiei was furiously annoyed at Koenma's incompetence.

"But…but…daddy left me with this big, huge responsibility, and if I screw THIS up I'll get spankings for sure!!" Koenma was almost in tears at the thought of his father's infamous spankings.

"Koenma it's really not that important what sex she is. Our mission is to keep her power at bay." Kurama was trying to calm down the situation, and neither of the two around him was helping.

"Speak for yourself, Kurama." Hiei glared at the tiny screen, almost crushing it in his hand.

Koenma sniffled, holding back his tears and running nose. "Well…I guess you're right, Kurama. And Hiei…" he thought carefully about his words, "you'll just have to deal with it. I can't send either of you home, it's much too early. And anyhow this really shouldn't be that much of a problem, if any. It's just something we failed to see, that's all. Treat her as you would if it was a male, for the most part, and everything should be fine…yes…everything's fine!...OGRE!!" Koenma yelled, breaking his slowly calming demeanor. At once his faithful blue servant George stepped in, carrying a large stack of papers of course."

"Yes, Koenma?" he asked obediently. Koenma started to scribble something on a piece of paper

"What did you say the girl's name was?" He looked up at the two demons looking at him through the tiny screen.

"Celia," Kurama responded. At her name Hiei almost cringed in disgust. He still had not gotten over the incident earlier that day.

"Well, it's a pretty name," Koenma admitted as he scribbled some more on the paper. He then handed it to his blue servant. "File this ASAP with the other information on our American target."

"Um…Yes sir!" George quickly scurried away to do as he was told.

Koenma turned back to Kurama and Hiei and…noticed something. "Hiei…what's that red mark on your cheek?"

'What?!' Hiei thought, his eyes growing slightly wider. 'It's still there, even now? Dammit, she must have hit me harder than I thought…' He then responded to Koenma's question with a prompt, "It's nothing to be concerned about," complete with his classic death glare.

"Actually, Koenma, Hiei got a taste of what Yusuke deal with everyday with Keiko, except this was with our target," Kurama said with a small smile on his face. Hiei's glare turned to a blunt stare in the redhead's direction.

At this Koenma raised an eyebrow in both amusement and intrigue. "Why Hiei, you were the LAST person I'd suspect to be a skirt-lifter…" Koenma said, wagging his finger in disapproval. At this sudden accusation Hiei nearly exploded. He loathed the Detective's perverse behavior, and he had done no such thing to this stupid girl, and never would.

"WHAT?! I did no such thing!" His fists clenched in frustration at everything that had been said from the very beginning of the conversation.

"Why, Hiei, is that a…blush I see on your cheeks?" Kurama playfully poked the fire demon's cheeks that were, for lack of a more cliché phrase, on fire! His cheeks were red with embarrassment, and he knew it. He swatted Kurama's hand away and shoved the communicator into his chest.

"I don't have to stand here and listen to this nonsense," Hiei growled, turning away from the two accusers as he walked into his bedroom and slammed the door so hard it practically fell off the hinges.

"Oh dear…I better go talk to him. And Koenma, nothing happened. She simply got overly upset about something he did that he, at the moment, didn't realize he was doing."

Kurama explained what happened to Koenma, and after relaying some more information about Celia after completely getting off track earlier, they disconnected and he put the communicator in his back pocket. Kurama walked cautiously to the damaged door and knocked. No reply. He knocked again, and again no reply.

'He must really be upset…either that or he's planning on ambushing me the second I walk through the door," Kurama thought as he warily turned the knob.

He walked in, his muscles tensed, as he glanced around the room for the steamed fire demon. His eyes stopped as he saw Hiei, of course, sitting on the window sill, staring out the window. His left elbow was propped on his bent knee, letting his hand hang down the other side. It had started to rain, and his reflection was blurred by the falling raindrops. Even so Kurama could clearly see, through the reflection, that Hiei's eyes were fixed on the outside happenings and had not remotely acknowledged him walking into the room. Kurama sighed, feeling remorseful for acting so immaturely toward his friend. It was so…unlike him. He knew he had to apologize profusely if he wanted to gain back Hiei's respect of him. He walked slowly toward the window, Hiei never looking up once.

"Hiei…I'm-"

"You're what, sorry?" Obviously this was going to be harder than he thought…

"…Yes. What Koenma said, as well as what I said was out of line, and I apologize." He then bowed toward the sitting demon, actually attracting a small glance.

'I've never see him bow before…especially not to me. I guess I should forgive him. He's being pathetic…"

"Fine, just stop degrading yourself," Hiei snapped, turning his head back toward the window.

"Thank you…" Kurama stood up, getting back to the task at hand, "I guess we should be getting to bed. We have another long day tomorrow."

"Hn," was Hiei's only reply. Kurama took this as acceptance and walked out of the room, closing the door gently, trying to keep it from falling off.

Hiei hopped down from the window sill, taking off his white scarf in the process. 'Great," he thought, 'only thirteen more days of dealing with Kurama's joking, Koenma's accusations, and that girl's foolish behavior! I'll be sure to keep my guard up next time…' He then removed his cloak and lazily threw it on a nearby chair, along with is scarf, revealing a plain light-blue tank top. He took this off and threw it with the other clothing, revealing his perfectly sculpted upper body. Then he sat down on the end of the bed, which was strange for him. He was so used to spending his nights, as well as his days, in trees it was awkward having something so…comfortable beneath him. Still, he didn't complain as he started to undo his classic white belts which bound his black pants. He wouldn't normally lay so…uncovered, but it was a warm night despite the cool rain outside, and him being a fire demon only added to the humidity. Finally he had undone all of the belts, and got up and set them on the back of the chair. His pants then slid down his muscular legs easily, revealing a pair of solid ruby-red boxers that fit perfecting around his hips. After kicking his pants to the side he went and turned off the light and crawled into the fluffy bed. He placed his head on the pillow, and pulled the thinnest cover over his body. It would take a while to fully adjust to his new surroundings. His eyes, all three of them, closed slowly as he drifted into sleep, thinking back on the events of the day, the main being that of Celia…

* * *

THE NEXT DAY…

Kurama thought it was best to wake Hiei himself in order to avoid another alarm clock incident. He got dressed and walked out into the main room, only to find Hiei fully dressed and sitting at the table in the kitchen.

"Well, I see you had an easier time getting up this morning," Kurama said, walking over to the relaxed demon.

"Hn, I just woke up earlier, that's all."

"Well, since we're practically ready, and there's still an hour left before school starts, why don't we order breakfast? I'm sure a hotel as nice as this one has an order in menu."

"Doesn't matter to me. Just don't order something putrid," Hiei responded. Kurama nodded with a smile and walked over to the kitchen counter where he found the menu. He glanced through and found several things that looked tasty, as well as some things he had never even heard of…so he decided to stick to something traditional, at least to him. Hiei had probably never eaten pancakes, eggs, and sausage, but Kurama had hopes that he would at least try it. He picked up the phone, dialed the front desk, and ordered two plates, while Hiei listened in the while time, wondering what it was that he would be forced to eat.

A knock came at the door about fifteen minutes later. "Room Service!!" said a shrill voice from the opposite side of the door. Kurama got up and opened the door. A young boy, no older than fourteen, presented the cart with the two plates, complete with orange juice, water, coffee, and a tiny vase of flowers in the middle as was customary in most hotels. The boy's clothes were obviously too large for him, and his face was covered in pimples and blemishes. Puberty, the awkward phase. Kurama gladly took the cart, thanked him, and slipped the boy a few dollars as a tip, which he was obviously glad to get, as a toothy grin complete with braces graced his red face as he walked down the hall. Kurama smiled at his enthusiasm as he closed the door and wheeled the cart into the room. The sweet aroma filled the air, and Hiei's nose caught a whiff. He eyed the cart and silver platters that covered the plates, eager to know what was underneath.

"I know you've probably never eating anything like this Hiei, but just try it. You might like it." Kurama lifted the platters off of the plates, and set one in front of Hiei, as well as himself, as he sat down and grabbed a cup of orange juice. Hiei…stared at it. Kurama was right, he had never eating this before, nevertheless SEEN this before.

"What the hell is this?" Hiei poked at one of the eggs, sunny side up, with his fork.

"It's pancakes, fried eggs, and sausage, which is pork." He cut a piece of pancake, placed it in his mouth, and swallowed, showing that it was alright to eat. Still, Hiei looked at it warily, but eventually hunger took over. He hadn't eaten since yesterday morning, and even then it was only the ice cream Kurama used to coax him out of bed. Finally he took his knife, cut a piece of sausage, and carefully placed it inside his mouth. His eyes widened as he slowly chewed the food. It was…good! Delicious even! Hiei swallowed the delectable piece and, not noticing Kurama, took the rest of the piece in his hand and shoved it into his mouth. Then he noticed Kurama's surprised expression as his fork was midway to his mouth.

"What?" He swallowed the rest of the sausage and glared at his friend sitting opposite him.

"Oh, nothing," Kurama replied, brining the fork with dripping pancake on it to his mouth.

It didn't take them long to finish the rest of the food, and soon after they departed to the waiting car at the front of the hotel which would drive them to school. When it arrived after a short drive they got out and proceeded onto their homerooms. Hiei walked to one side of the school, while Kurama walked toward the other. Not really paying attention to anything Hiei bumped into someone.

"Watch where you're going," Hiei snapped, shoving whoever it was to the side, causing them to fall on the ground.

"The hell was that for you bastard?!" Hiei recognized the voice. He turned his head to see Celia, sitting on the ground, rubbing the back of her head, and looking completely pissed off. She looked up to see who had pushed her.

"…Hiei? Ugh, figures someone like you would shove an innocent girl to the ground for no reason." She stood up, with no help from Hiei, and brushed herself off. Her eyes met his, and an official staring contest to see who could intimidate who first took place.

"Hn, look who's talking. It figures someone as clumsy as you would bump into me."

"Excuse me?! Me bump into you? You were the one daydreaming about who knows what when you bumped into me."

"Don't make me slit your throat for lying."

"I'd like to see you try."

Neither of them had backed down, both pairs of eyes intently glaring at the other, lightning bolts shooting between them. Suddenly the bell rang telling them they had only five minutes to get to class before they were late. Hiei really didn't care, but Celia broke the stare and stormed off to her homeroom, Hiei still staring after her as she left. 'What a fool," he thought as he went ahead to his own homeroom.

The bell rang and Hiei went to first block, not looking forward at all to that annoying girl Charlotte from the day before. He walked in and, once again, he was forced to the seat next to her. He placed his hair another foot away from her, as far as he could get without hitting the wall, and sat down, not looking at anyone or anything. Charlotte once again bombarded him with questions and senseless talk, and he once again ignored it as long as he could. Eventually it became too much and he shoved the heel of his foot into her shin.

"OOOOOWWW!!!" she screamed

"What? What's wrong, did something happen," said the teacher, turning around from writing some equation on the board.

"HE HIT ME IN THE LEG!!" She pointed at Hiei, who put on his best 'I'm innocent, I promise! I don't know what she's talking about!' face, not that it was very good in the first place…

"You…Hiei, right? Did you do what she accused you of?"

"No, of course not. She must have bumped it on the table while passing notes to someone up front." Charlotte was shocked at this accusation and was quick to protest.

"What?! NO THAT'S NOT TRUE!!" Then another sharp pain came to her shin. "OOOOWWW HE DID IT AGAIN!! MAKE HIM STOP!!"

"Charlotte, passing notes, yelling out in class, is unacceptable. Go to the principal's office."

"BUT-"she protested.

"NOW." The teacher pointed towards the door, and Charlotte picked up her things and, with glance at Hiei accompanied by sticking her tongue out, walked out of the door into the hallway. Hiei could only grin.

The rest of the day went pretty smoothly. Nothing exciting happened in British Literature besides the teacher making him read one of the character's parts in Beowulf, probably getting him back for being so rude to her the day before. He read it with complete apathy, even during the fighting scenes. The teacher briefly reprimanded him for not "staying in character." Like he really cared. He met Kurama at lunch once again, and told of what happened before homeroom that morning, but left out the part about sending Charlotte to the principal.

"Hiei, we really shouldn't make her an enemy. If her power were to erupt, then having her as an ally would be advised." Kurama looked at Hiei and an intent facial expression.

"Like I said it wasn't my fault. She was the one who didn't look where she was going."

"That's not the point. At least try not to get into anymore fights with her."

"As long as she keeps to herself, I'll do the same." Kurama felt slightly content, hopeful that this request could be fulfilled.

After lunch he went on to Art, and he let out some of his frustration while scribbling on a piece of paper. He discovered that he was actually pretty good. Well, not TERRIBLE at least. He drew a fire-breathing dragon with spikes coming out of its back, and a trail of destruction in its wake. Even the teacher complimented him on his skill, which he took to boost up his pride. Then the bell rang and, of course, he was off to class with HER. He met Kurama on the way and, once again, they were first to enter. They sat down in the front as they did yesterday, Hiei much more reluctant than Kurama, and waited for everyone to start piling in. Soon Charlotte walked in and, upon seeing Hiei, turned up her nose, set her stuff down, crossed her arms, and said not a word to him. Hiei was completely content with this setup, and complied by keeping his mouth shut, too. Eventually Celia walked in and, rolling her eyes, sat next to Hiei. They had assigned seats, so she really had no choice.

"So, how are you today, Kurama?" She didn't even glance toward him, but looked instead at the redhead behind her.

"Oh, I'm fine. Thank you. How are you doing?"

"I'm ok, thanks for ASKING…at least someone around here has manners." She slowly turned her head towards Hiei, who merely looked at her with disgust. Kurama, once again, was caught in the middle. He felt like he had to say something to break the tension…again.

"Hiei told me about this morning. He told me at lunch that he was sorry he did it, but was too embarrassed to say so," Kurama said. Hiei turned his head towards Kurama so fast a gust of wind blew from the motion. His eyes burned with fury, and Kurama could see Hiei mentally burning his body with them in the reflection.

"Oh…really?" Celia sounded surprised. "Well, I guess it's OK then…"

Hiei was about to protest when Kurama covered his mouth with his hand. "Yes he's very sorry." 'Hiei…REMEMBER WHAT I TOLD YOU. WE NEED HER AS AN ALLY. Do not jeopardize this mission, because if you do…I won't give you anymore ice cream for the entire trip.' Kurama thoughts quickly went into the fire demon's head, and once again his eyes went wide. No ice cream…at all?! That cold sensation was practically heaven, much better than whatever he had eating for breakfast that morning. He didn't know where to get any himself, so he guessed he would have to comply in order to get his fix…Hiei forcefully took Kurama's hand from his mouth and looked at the girl in front of him. 'This is going to be difficult…' he said to himself.

"Yeah…I'm…sorry, about this morning." He flinched as the words left his lips, but he managed to get them out. She looked at him with accepting eyes.

"Fine. I accept. To be honest I enjoy a little argument here or there." At these words Hiei looked at her with one eyebrow raised. 'Maybe she's not as bad as I thought…'

For the rest of the period they acted moderately civil towards one another. And, once again, took out her MP3 player, without the teacher's knowledge of course, and started to mouth the words to the song as she took out a sketchbook from her backpack. She turned to a page with, well, something on it, and began to make sketches here or there. Hiei couldn't help but notice, and sneakily peeked over her shoulder to see exactly what it was she was doodling. When he saw the whole picture, he took back that it was a "doodle." It was anything but. It was the image of a woman with one angel wing and one bat wing coming out of her shoulder blades. She was on one knee, her hands in front of her reaching upward towards the heavens. A silken robe with intricate designs draped around her body, twisting this way and that to match her contorted body. The wings took up most of the page, with feathers falling from the angel wing, while droplets of fire dotted the other. Hiei couldn't help but admire the picture; it was very well crafted. In fact, without warning he took her hand with the pencil in it, lifted it up off of the page, and took the book from her, setting it in his lap to get a better look. Before she could protest she heard something that made her face turn a slight pink color.

"This is very good." The words echoed in her head. She didn't receive compliments often, especially not from someone like Hiei. Even Kurama was startled by Hiei's kindness toward this girl that he "hated." But, he also had to admit that the picture was magnificent, even if it was just a pencil drawing.

"Um…thanks…" was her only reply. Hiei glanced up and saw that she was, well, blushing! He raised an eyebrow.

"What? No one has ever complimented you on having such a skill before?"

"Well, yeah, people have, but…I mean not that often. I mostly keep my drawings to myself…I don't really work well under pressure…" She staggered on her words. She was actually embarrassed that someone had said something nice to her. Hiei decided to milk it for all it was worth to try and get back on Kurama's good side. He wanted that sweet snow.

He looked from her blushing face back to the picture. "Really? Well, if you did this mostly in your classes, which I imagine you did, then it can't be that much of a problem. Still, this takes talent, just like fighting takes talent…or arguing for that matter." He flipped through the rest of the book and saw similar pictures, some unfinished, some filling the entire page with intricate designs and bodies. He turned back to the original picture as his eyes glanced up at her. His ruby eyes met her green ones. Then, something AMAZING happened…Hiei…smiled! Yes, the great, evil, destructive, rude Hiei actually smiled. It was small, and slight, but it was there. Kurama saw this and nearly freaked. He wasn't sure if his friend had finally lost it or if he was just seeing things. Either way he decided to intervene.

"Celia, do you mind if I look through it?" There came no reply. He could still see that their eyes were locked, Celia still blushing from earlier, Hiei still with a small smirk on his face.

"What…OH! Heh, sorry Kurama…I guess I had something on my mind." Celia took the book from Hiei, who was kind of reluctant to give it up, and handed it to Kurama. The rest of the period went pretty smoothly, with both of the demons looking through the sketchbook. Finally the last bell of the day rang and the class got up to leave.

"Guess I'll see you guys tomorrow," she said, walking out the door. She looked back at them as she walked through the parking lot and met the same friend as the day before. Kurama waved back, but Hiei had gone straight back to his apathetic demeanor.

"Hiei…what happened in there? I haven't known you to be so genial around others, even me." Kurama looked at his small friend expectantly.

"Hn. I want to keep my ice cream. That's all." Without glancing toward the fox demon he walked in front, straight to the car to take them back to the hotel without another word.

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OMG IT'S DONE!! Wow…its 4 in the morning…and I have to be at work at 11…yeah I'm screwed. Doesn't matter. I got into the writing beat. I was supposed to finish this last week, but to no avail. Too many tests. Actually I have even less time now with finals this week…so I'm screwed both ways. Joy…

Anyway hope you enjoyed this chapter! Once again I'll try and post a new one every week. Please READ AND REVIEW!! I love constructive criticism, so feel free to give me any pointers. Flames are also welcome, I really don't care. I'll just ignore them. Whatever. Hope you enjoyed!!


	4. When Apathy Hides

Yeah it's been a while…but I've been working a lot, and with Christmas and all that I've just been tired as everything and crap. So yeah. Deal. Ho.

I'll try and update again in the next week but I have a feeling it won't happen…P. But! On with the chapter!! 4!! Yeah!...w/e.

I don't own YYH or Will and Grace or Family Guy. Which is still funny after all these years…D

This chapter does contain a bit of explicitness, as in odd sounds, near the end, but deal. That's why its rated T.

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Kurama was baffled by Hiei's sudden gracious behavior. He never gave compliments back home; all he gave were insults and death threats. He didn't buy into the whole "I did it for the ice cream," thing. There had to be more to it than that, but before Kurama could ask him anything, he noticed Hiei was stopped right before the car door. His hand was in midair, reaching for the handle, but that's as far as it got. 

"Hiei, why aren't you getting in the car," Kurama asked, temporarily putting away his questioning notions about his friend.

"…Kurama…who has been driving this contraption?" It was an odd question that caught Kurama off guard.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean exactly what I said. Haven't you wondered who it is that's been driving us around for three days?"

At this conclusion Kurama practically laughed. Hiei withdrew his hand from reaching for the handle and shoved it in his pocket, shooting yet another glare at the taller demon next to him. Apparently he found his curiosity amusing. In fact…ever since they had been there Kurama seemed to poke fun at Hiei's oblivious behavior more often than usual. Sure, Hiei could take a comment here or there about him not knowing something about this "foolish human world," but lately it had been much more prevalent. He'd have to deal with this issue when they got back…IF they got back. Hiei refused to get into the car until he knew who was at the wheel.

"Hiei, I'm surprised that you didn't know. I knew from the very beginning, when we went from the airport to the hotel. I just assumed you knew as well." At this Hiei's glare became more intense.

"You knew and didn't tell me? My trust in you has been, for the moment, eliminated." Kurama's amused expression faded. Were they getting into yet another fight? This never happened back in Japan…

"Hiei, I apologize. I just thought-"

"Well you thought wrong. Now, tell me who is in this…thing…before I rip the door apart and find out for myself." Before Kurama could answer the driver's side window rolled down and a blue arm popped out, waving an index finger around.

"Are we going or not? Koenma really needs me back at the office!"

"You? Aren't you Koenma's lackey ogre that can't do anything right?" George took that to quite the offense, but knowing Hiei quite well he kept his mouth shut.

"Umm…yes! Yes, that's me! Koenma's right hand man!"

"Kurama, you mean to tell me THIS has been taking us everywhere?"

Hiei felt like such a fool. Wasn't it obvious that it had to be someone Koenma trusted, even for the short drives to and from school? Apparently not to the fire demon. He looked at Kurama, who looked at him back with a blank stare as if to say, 'You see? It's nothing to worry about.'

"Yes. Because you got into the care before me at the airport, I glimpsed his arm and face out of the side of the window. I guess you couldn't see since you were already in the car. But it's nothing to worry about."

Kurama hoped these words would console him. He seemed to be getting on Hiei's nerves much more than usual, which actually was never. Hiei was normally so tolerant of Kurama's joking around only because he trusted him probably more than anyone else. He prayed that he had not broken his trust by this stupid mistake.

"Umm…sorry to interrupt, but can we go please? Koenma will not like it at all if I'm late."

Hiei opened the door without a word and got in. Kurama shortly followed, and the car drove off the school campus. Few words were exchanged between the two during the short trip to the hotel. Even so the tension enclosed within the small space was so thick Hiei could have cut it with his katana. They arrived and promptly got out, still without speaking. George drove off as the two demons walked upstairs toward the hotel room. Kurama unlocked the door and they both walked in. Hiei took a seat at the far end of one of the couches in the main room, while Kurama took one at the opposite side of the room. Kurama finally decided that this silence had to stop.

"Hiei, I didn't think it was that important."

"We could have been attacked for all I knew. The only reason I got into that moving contraption in the first place was because you did." Kurama crossed his legs and looked intently at the demon sitting opposite him.

"So, I instilled your own actions." Hiei wasn't pleased by this answer, which showed on his face. Nobody told him what to do, unless it was for his own benefit of course. He figured that because Kurama wasn't afraid that it was safe to board. He was right, but still, his curious nature had been in abundance with all of the new experiences present and he just wanted to know who it was. Maybe…he over exaggerated…

"Hn. Think what you want. This is a pointless argument and I suggest we stop before I slit your throat." Kurama let out an inner sigh of relief. Still, there was yet another pressing matter on his mind.

"Hiei, what you said today to Celia, about her drawings…did you mean them?"

"Why does it matter to you?" Kurama would have to delve quite deep if he wanted to know Hiei's true intentions. 'Typical Hiei answer…'

"I was just wondering. You never talk about the people at home so generously." Hiei looked at him with complete apathy.

"If you must know then yes, I meant what I said. You can't deny that the girl has artistic talent. I just thought I'd let her know it."

"I know she does. Those drawings were wonderful, but that's not what I'm concerned about. Were you being so nice because of the ice cream, or was there another reason?" At the mention of the words "ice cream" Hiei's ears perked up, just ever so slightly.

"Of course I did. Why else would I be so generous? I could have just pointed out that she was talented, and left it at that. But I knew something I would do in the future, such has fight with her again, would probably displease you, messing with my ice cream privileges. So, I overcompensated with the abundance of compliments." Kurama was impressed by this answer. Normally Hiei did nearly everything out of impulse, relying in his instincts to carry him through. This time, however, he seemed to have thought ahead. 'Impressive.'

"I didn't know you were such a strategist. So it really was just about the ice cream after all." Hiei felt smug with himself, and gave a small smirk to show his approval.

"Hn, of course it was. Why else?"

"To be completely honest I wasn't sure."

Hiei gave a puzzled look, raising an eyebrow, but soon shrugged it off. He hoped they wouldn't have any more arguments any time soon. He had enough to deal with at school. He soon let his mind drift as he sat on the end of the couch, thinking about things back home. 'Home…I'll get to see Yukina again…YUKINA!" With a sudden realization he jumped out of his seat and, in an instant, stood right in front of Kurama and proceeded to fist the collar on his shirt.

"Where's that damn communicator?! I have to talk to Koenma." Kurama pulled Hiei's hand away and at the same time dug into his pocket and pulled out the small Compaq. Hiei snatched it out of his hand and opened it. Once again there was a fuzzy screen at first, but soon a fully-awake Koenma appeared, stamping papers yet again. "Koenma!"

At Hiei's yell the tiny Spirit World Prince sent papers flying, as well as let out a small scream. After a few seconds he composed himself and looked, yet again, into the eyes of an extremely angry fire demon.

"Where's Yukina?" It was a sudden question that caught him, as well as Kurama, off guard. Then…of course! Hiei was deathly concerned about Yukina. He had kept a close eye on her from a distance her whole life, and how that he wasn't there he wondered who it was that was watching over her at the moment.

"Hiei, Yukina is perfectly safe. She's at Genkai's temple where she's been saying for the past several weeks. I knew you'd be concerned about her safety so I set up a special barrier around the temple which keeps higher-leveled demons out. You have no need to worry. Also Kuwabara and sometimes Yusuke come to visit her nearly every day."

"What?!" He was appalled that the idiot was there with Yukina, and he was not there to protect her from his immediate stupidity. Who knows what he was attempting…

"Hiei, there's no need to worry! I know you hate Kuwabara with an unimaginable passion, and he's not the brightest bulb in the box, but as much as you might hate to admit it he cares for Yukina and would hate to see her hurt just as much as you would. He would probably give his life for her. So having him there to protect her really isn't that bad of a thing." Hiei hated hearing those words. He was attracted to HIS sister, his one and only sister. Still Koenma had a point, as much as he loathed admitting it. Kuwabara was an idiot, but he was a caring idiot. And he cared for her. As long as he was half a world away he'd have to trust Koenma's word.

"He's right, Hiei. Kuwabara does care for her, and would do anything to protect her. Just think that in another week and a half we'll be back in Japan and you can watch her again." Hiei looked at Kurama with hopeful eyes. He was right; it had already been two days. He hoped it would go by quickly so he could beat Kuwabara twice as hard for him not being there to torture him at the moment.

"Hn. Fine. I guess I have no choice. Yukina is in your hands, but if something happens to her it's your head." Hiei's glare toward the screen intensified, making his message quite clear as an audible gulp could be heard from the tiny man. He closed the Compaq and handed it back to Kurama.

"Don't worry. When we get back you can continue your torture of Kuwabara, and I promise I won't say anything." Hiei perked up at this, thinking of how he would count the days until he could insult the bumbling fool back home.

"I'm going to bed," and with that Hiei got up from the couch, walked to his room, and closed the door. Kurama then got up and came up next to the door.

"Don't you want any dinner? You haven't eaten since this morning. I can order something from downstairs."

Hiei replied from behind the locked door. "Dammit, Kurama, don't act so motherly. I'll eat if I'm hungry." Satisfied with yet another Hiei-typical answer Kurama walked over to the pre-filled fridge and found several things with which to make a crude sandwich. After making it he sat down on the couch and found the remote for the TV. He wasn't really one for television, but honestly there wasn't much else to do. He couldn't go anywhere, and he certainly couldn't do anything with Hiei, so technically he had no choice. He pressed the POWER button and a show came on; a very effeminate looking man was talking to a woman in a short black business-type dress who was showing far too much cleavage and a voice that put Botan to shame.

"Karen, I don't know how much more of Will I can take. I mean every time I get in the shower with him he's like, 'Jack get the hell out!'"

"Oh, Jack, I know how you feel. Grace is going crazy; she can't concentrate on her job anymore. All she does all day is draw people's houses…on these giant sketch pads…" cue canned laughter

"We have to find a way to get them back together…pretend to think, pretend to think…"

"Pretend to care, pretend to care…"

At this point Kurama was sporting a huge sweat drop. He quickly changed the channel, which didn't turn out much better, as it was apparently a documentary in which two giraffes were…mating…very violently, to be specific. He quickly changed the channel and hoped one last time for something at least partially decent as he took a bite out of his sandwich.

"PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME!! PEANUT BUTTER JELLY, PEANUT BUTTER JELLY, PEANUT BUTTER JELLY WITH A BASEBALL BAT!!"

"Aw, I'm sorry Brian-" but that's as far as it got before Kurama clicked off the TV. He twitched at the peanut butter and jelly song now ringing in his ears. He finished off his sandwich, turned off the lights, and went to his own room. Right next door Hiei was struggling to get to sleep. There was an incessant banging coming from the room opposite his headboard.

'What the hell is that noise?! If whoever it is doesn't stop I'll go over there and slit their throats…' He then heard something that made his hairs stand on end, as well as a speckle of red appear on his cheeks.

"Oh God, Joshua!! HARDER!!" Now, Hiei was, for the most part, completely oblivious to the story of the birds and the bees. He knew what mating was, and what it meant, but had never heard or seen it, and had never committed the act himself. Even so, he had a vague idea of what was going on through the thin walls in the room right behind his.

'Humans are disgusting…if they must mate, or whatever they're doing, they can at least keep quiet about it…' He took the pillow and put it over his ears and pressed as hard as he could, trying to make them bleed from his own pressure. 'If they don't stop soon I'll sleep in the damn kitchen. I don't want to have to cut out my own eyes by seeing their actions for the sake of their dying.' Luckily, after a few minutes, as well as a few moans and groans and sighs, there was peace and quiet. Hiei sighed in relief and finally got off to sleep, only to wake up five hours later to the faint sound of the alarm in Kurama's room…

THE NEXT DAY….

A tired-looking Hiei appeared in the kitchen a few minutes after Kurama. He sat down in one of the chairs facing the counter and promptly set his head down, apparently trying to get just an ounce more of sleep

"Hiei, what are you doing? You look tired…didn't you get any sleep?"

"You don't want to know. I'll leave it at that…" Kurama looked questioningly at his friend, but just accepted it as another one of Hiei's typical cryptic answers. It was probably best not to know, anyway. Some things are better left unsaid, or in Hiei's case, unheard. Kurama ordered breakfast, the same as the day before, and when it arrived it was the same prepubescent boy that answered the door. Again Kurama gave a small tip, and again the boy flitted down the hallway in absolute glee. Hiei lifted his head when his nose sniffed the sweet aroma of sausage and eggs. Apparently his tired state was only temporary, as he quickly ate what was set in front of him. They exchanged a few words as they headed downstairs to the car. Hiei cautiously glanced at the driver's side window before getting in after Kurama. During the ride he stared straight ahead, never taking his eyes off of the back of the seat where the supposed driver sat. Kurama didn't question his actions, mainly because of the spat they had the day before.

Eventually they arrived at the school where they departed from the vehicle and headed towards their own homerooms. Remembering that he ran into Celia the day before, Hiei glanced around for any sign of her. For a second he thought he glimpsed her signature red jacket, but before he could make a move she disappeared amid the crowd of scurrying students.

When Hiei arrived in first period he had no problems at all with Charlotte. After the incident the day before Hiei suspected that she would wise up and stop bothering him, and he was right. The only acknowledgment he got from her was the occasional glance to make sure that he wasn't about to commit any more acts of violence upon her legs.

Second period was most uninteresting; they finished reading Beowulf and played what Hiei called a "crude and foolish game" where the class reviewed the story for the test the following week. As it turned out because he was there for the entire reading the teacher was making him take the test along with the rest of the class. Hiei had never taken any kind of written test before, but he imagined it to be incredibly simple. He dominated the review game, mainly because he read the minds of both the teacher and the much more nerd-oriented students through his Jagan. Though it was a big dishonorable, there was no way he was going to appear foolish in front of his human classmates. In the end he got several bonus points that would be added to his future test grade for having the highest score; a smirk appeared on his face, showing no signs of dishonesty on his part.

Again he met Kurama at lunch and they briefly relayed what had happened that morning. They agreed that they needed to find out more information about Celia, including things that could possibly instigate her power.

"It could occur at random intervals…or something could prompt it. Honestly we need to know if we're to keep it under control." Hiei didn't even bother looking at Kurama as he said this. His legs were crossed as he rested against the brick wall of the school. Why should he care? No matter how strong this girl was he was sure he could take care of it.

"Hn. You worry too much. We haven't seen any sign of her power; she seems like a perfectly normal, weak human." This was true, but Kurama was still skeptical. Something must set off the energy which Koenma desperately spoke of…but what could it be?

"True…but we need to watch her carefully. Any sudden spike in her power must be caused by something, and we need to make sure we know exactly what that something is."

"Fine. Just don't expect me to baby-sit." With that statement the bell rang and they departed for their third period classes.

Art class was slightly more interactive this day, as they had a live model to work with. She sat in a chair on top of a table in the center of the room while desks were moved to accommodate the space around it in the shape of a circle. Hiei honestly couldn't care less about the assignment, but did a crude sketch of the girl anyway so as not to get into trouble. The teacher was a husky woman with fingers that resembled sausages. She disgusted Hiei, and gave far too much criticism to her students; she would periodically go around the room and tell them what they were doing wrong, then attempt to fix the problem itself, but in doing so ruined the student's initial plan for the piece and made it even worse than before. Luckily he was avoided for the most part by the teacher, probably for the fact that he gave her burning glares any time she came near, sending the clear message to mind her own damn business.

Finally they were on their way to Japanese class. It was early December, which explained the chill in the air. The wind ruffled the leaves on the ground which came from the mathematically placed trees on the campus, which sort of ruined the whole beauty of the trees. None of them were large enough for Hiei to spend time in, to his dismay, but he enjoyed them nonetheless. Even so, he was baffled as to why it was still so warm at this time of year. Back in Japan the ground would be covered in snow and the wind so cold it could freeze tears. Hiei guessed it was because of their location, but he decided not to question it. His being a fire demon impacted his sense of temperature, so even in the coldest weather he was perfectly warm.

Yet again they were the first to arrive in the room, so they took their usual seats up front. Slowly more students started to enter, but they noticed someone different, someone they hadn't seen before. She stood about 5'3" and wore a pair of fitted jeans which came right to the ground, the bottom edges slightly jagged from dragging. Her tennis shoes looked new, and the tongues were pulled up over the top of the jeans. Her shirt was white with gold lettering, tucked ever so slightly into the top of the jeans held in place by a belt with a buckle that said "Jasmine" in glittering gold. Above all her skin was the most perfect shade of light chocolate brown, with side-parted bangs covering the right side of her face. She stood next to the door as all the other students filed in past her, as if waiting for someone…

Eventually Celia entered as usual, but looked absolutely melancholy. Her attire was completely black, quite a contrast to the bright red trench coat she wore the first day they met. Her hair wasn't as neat as it usually was, and her makeup was smeared beneath her puffy eyes. She walked in slowly but stopped in front of the new girl waiting by the door. She suddenly dropped all of her things and clung to the girl for dear life, wrapping her arms around her as if it was her only means of survival. The girl put her arms around her as well, a reassuring hand placed on the back of her head. The two demons watched with amazement and concern as this unfolded, as a solitary tear dropped from Celia's eyes to the dirty, worn out carpet on which they stood.

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Yup, done! Yet another cliffhanger, don't you love me? Lol…yeah, I know you do. This story is turning out way longer than I ever expected it to be…it's already about 31 pages in Word and they're only on day three….wow…this is going to be a long two weeks…and I plan on a sequel after Kurama and Hiei leave so…hot damn xD anyway enjoy this chapter and I hope to not make you wait too long for the next one. Again, constructive criticism and comments are strongly encouraged. So please review! 


	5. Love's Loss

Wow…15 reviews so far! Thanks to everyone who reviewed, as well as helped with criticism. It really helps! So here's the next chapter, just because the cliff hanger I left was like…crazy. So…here goes! Oh, this chapter wont be all that funny…it's mostly angst. Sorry about that, but gotta start providing background info on some stuff…so, yeah.

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Celia stood there entangled with the new girl's arms for at least another minute. By this point the others in the classroom, as well as the teacher, noticed the spectacle and began staring and chatting among themselves, not daring to ask what was wrong. Luckily they didn't have to; the teacher did it for them.

"Oh my, what's wrong? Does she need to go to the office?" There was concern in her eyes; most teachers could care less if the same thing were happening in their classroom, but Mrs. Schmitz was a kindhearted soul who only wanted the best for her students, especially one of her brightest students. The new girl looked up over Celia's shoulder, concern in her eyes as well.

"Ie, sensei. She'll be fine. She just found out some bad news…that's all. It's alright, I promise." Celia then let go of the girl, trying to hide as she wiped the tears from her eyes with her sleeve. She turned to her teacher, and faked a small smile.

"It's ok. I'll be fine." The teacher took this answer to at least some solace.

"Are you sure?"

"Hai, sensei." The forced smile on her face grew ever so slightly larger.

"Well, ok…but tell me if you need to, ok? No problem." Celia nodded, picked up her things, and started toward her chair as Mrs. Schmitz went back to her computer. The new girl followed Celia, but stopped at the end of the table. The entire time Hiei and Kurama eyed the girls in both suspicion and curiosity. What was it that made her so upset? Just then, when Celia had finally calmed down a bit, the new girl put her things down on the table right in front of Hiei. He just stared at the jumble of bags, while she stared at him.

"Who is this?" she asked. It was actually more like a demand, as she crossed her arms and stared straight at the spot where the fire demon sat. Celia came out of her daze and, sniffling a bit, looked up at the new girl about to provide an answer.

"Oh, Jasmine, this is Hiei, and behind him is Kurama. They're exchange students from Japan and they'll be here until the end of next week, I think. And, guys, this is Jasmine, one of my best friends. She's been on a trip for the past few days but got back last night."

"It's nice to meet you." Jasmine turned to see Kurama looking up at her with his emerald eyes. First the teacher, how this new guy. She smiled; all this kindness was contagious.

"Nice to meet you, too…but…well, this one's in my seat." Hiei looked up at her as the comment passed by his ears. 'This one?' he thought. She was referring to him as a thing, a burden, an inanimate object. Who was she to tell him to move?

"…I said…you're in my seat. I think that was your cue to move." She shifted her body weight to one of her legs, which made her hips swivel to one side, making her form appear rigid, firm, and somewhat intimidating. Even so, Hiei could care less. Once again, who was she to tell HIM to move?

"And where the hell do you expect me to move to? There aren't anymore available seats." He tilted his head upward just enough to see her face. Their glares met, and sparks began to fly.

"Not my problem. But, really, um, move." Hiei was about to get up and slit this girls throat, but he was stopped by something, or someone.

"Please, don't fight…not right now." They both heard Celia's weak voice, and both turned to look at her. Her head was bowed, and her eyes were fighting to hold back more tears. When Hiei looked at her, he saw weakness. 'Pathetic…' he thought to himself. When Jasmine looked at her, she saw a friend in pain.

"Ok, gommen. I'll just grab this chair and sit right here." She took her things off of the table and grabbed a chair leaning against the wall nearby. She set it down on the opposite side of the table in front of Celia, put her things down, and sat in the chair. It wasn't part of the normal seating, but she didn't care. All that mattered was that she was close to her friend.

"Sorry, if you don't mind me asking but…what happened? I noticed that you were clearly upset about something…" Kurama's eyes showed concern; he didn't know this girl well, but the more he knew the better for the sake of the mission…right? Hiei rolled his eyes. So what if the girl was crying? It didn't concern him. Even so…he was curious. Celia didn't bother looking up as she answered.

"Oh…my boyfriend broke up with me last night…" Now, Kurama was expecting something more…serious. Possibly someone in the family had passed away, it would certainly explain all of the black she was wearing. But a break-up? It couldn't be as bad as she made it out to be…could it? But now it was official: Hiei was already sick of this conversation. Relationships were for the weak, for those who couldn't take care of themselves, for those who needed the solace of others. He needed none of that; he was perfectly content being on his own. What was so bad about ending a relationship anyway? Unless he did something unforgivable Hiei saw no apparent reason why this girl should be so upset over something so meaningless in his eyes.

"I'm sorry…were you two serious, if you don't mind me asking?" Kurama was determined to find out as much as he could. Hiei on the other hand was determined to go to sleep. He crossed his arms, closed his eyes, and nodded his head forward, trying to tune out the conversation.

"It's ok…the 14th would be our ten month anniversary…he asked me out on Valentines Day…I can't believe I was so fucking stupid! Why didn't I see it..." She suddenly let her head drop to the table, forehead hitting with full force in frustration. Jasmine placed a soothing hand on the back of her head, while giving Kurama a nasty look. He looked away, ashamed that he caused her to become upset again.

"You aren't stupid. You're so smart it's not even funny. He's the stupid one, and it could have happened to anyone…you're not the first…you didn't know." Kurama's eyes drifted slowly back towards the two girls, wondering what in the world they were talking about. What did she mean, "it could have happened to anyone?" and what didn't she see? He had to find out, but wasn't sure how to ask. He had already caused enough trouble as it is, and didn't want to risk making Jasmine an enemy by upsetting Celia even more.

"That's what everyone says…but I mean I have gay friends, why couldn't I see it?!" She tapped her forehead repeatedly against the table, while Jasmine tried to hold her head in place in case any real damage either to her cranium or the table took place. At this comment Kurama started to put the pieces together. 'So…he dumped her…because she found out he was actually homosexual? Wow… no wonder she's upset…I can't say I've been there but I know that she must be feeling ignorant for not seeing it…'

"He told you he didn't realize it until about a month ago, right? And I mean I have the best gaydar around I couldn't see it, so, honey, don't feel so bad."

"Yeah, I know, but the fact is he was all over that other guy, which he told me started about a month ago. So who knows, the same nights that we kissed he probably slobbered all into another man's mouth. I feel so…unsanitary…" Celia shivered at the disturbing thought.

Kurama finally seemed to understand the story now: he told her he was gay, and confessed to having an affair with another man while they were still dating. To Kurama this guy sounded like a total pain in the ass, as well as a big fat liar. If it had happened to him, he'd probably be just as upset…but it wasn't him, it was Celia. And her being a girl made her much more susceptible to emotional pain, which made it ten times worse.

"Well, whoever Ben's with now is probably a total jackass, but who cares, because he was a jackass anyway to dump you. And he probably had a small thingy anyway, so don't feel too bad." Celia looked up at Jasmine with a both embarrassed and hurt expression.

"Jasmine…you KNOW we never did anything…I'm not like that. But…to be honest…I thought about it, for our one year anniversary."

"What?! I was just kidding…are you serious?" jasmine was shocked at her friend's sudden confession.

"Yeah…I was. You know how I felt about him…he was the only guy I ever really trusted with something like that after…you know."

"Celia, don't be stupid. You know what happened to me. Don't be like me and wanna give those dumbasses a 'present' like that. If you had done it, you'd be so much worse off now. Be happy that it's over now and not then…" Jasmine hugged her friend around the shoulders, trying to comfort her. All of this talking had prevented Hiei from getting any sleep, so he decided to interject to try and shut them up for good.

"It's over, so deal with it. If he likes men now, he wont take you back, no matter how much you want him to. So just get over it and move on. I don't see the point in spilling out all these emotions on something as foolish as a relationship." Celia broke out of the hug and snapped her head in Hiei's direction. Was he seriously telling her to get over it, just like that? Was he really that heartless? Kurama became nervous at Hiei's answer. If his questions had caused her to become upset, what was she going to at Hiei practically telling her to shut up about it? He could tell this wouldn't end well…

"Let me guess…you've never been in love, have you?" She stared straight at him, waiting ever so patiently for an answer. Jasmine just sat there with her mouth open, still trying to take in his comments. Hiei scoffed before he opened his big fat mouth again.

"Of course not. Love is a meaningless emotion. I don't need a relationship with anyone to make me feel better about myself."

"…You are so fucking blind, did you know that? You're so damned self absorbed that you don't let anyone get close to you. You're such a selfish bastard. No wonder you've never had a relationship…" Hiei only snickered at the comment.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Jasmine was seriously about to jump over the table and beat the crap out of him.

"Absolutely nothing. You think I'm the one who's blind? Look at yourself, sniveling over some boy who probably didn't care for you in the first place. And I choose not to be in a relationship, not because I can't have one."

"You're wrong. He did care about me. He cared like nobody else cared…you don't know what the hell I've had to go through in my life, you have no fucking idea. You are part of the reason I don't trust men. They're deceiving and conniving and disgusting pigs who only care about themselves. He was everything I could ask for…the exact opposite of what I despise about men. He was caring, and sensitive, and never ever hurt me…but he took my fucking heart and fucking ripped it into fucking little tiny fucking pieces!" She made violent ripping movements in the air, and put her head in her arms on the table and began to cry, this time harder than ever. Hiei slowly took in the words as she said them. She was right about some things; most men were like that, at least most low class demons that he observed. He thought of them only as nymphomaniacs who cared little for life or themselves. They were foolish, ugly creatures that made him sick to call himself one of them. But she practically compared him to them: heartless, deceiving, disgusting, self-centered…and deep down, within Hiei's stone-cold heart, he felt the prick of a needle hit the surface, and caused just enough pain to cause the reaction of a small wince. It was true that he cared mainly for himself, but he couldn't possibly be like those low class demons back home, could he? He was intelligent, strong, and event slightly attractive, at least in his own mind. But these things she called him…the way she described it with such emotion, how he was "the reason I don't trust men…" honestly made him feel the smallest bit of guilt. It was a new feeling, and he didn't like it. He looked over at her shaking body as Jasmine tried her best to comfort her. He couldn't take back what he said; it was too late for that. His face became completely stoic and merely looked away from the scene, as unaffected as if the conversation never happened. Just then a yelp of pain came from the sobbing girl. Kurama and Hiei snapped their heads toward her to see her hand fly toward her forehead.

"Oh, God, not again…" Jasmine took Celia's face in her own, the palms of her hands becoming damp with her tears.

"What's happening?" Kurama asked, reaching out a hand to Celia's shoulder to try and keep her steady.

"I don't know. For the past few weeks she's been having these really bad headaches…they come up out of nowhere. But I don't think it's ever been this bad before…SENSEI!" Celia's eyes were wide with pain and the tips of her fingers dug into her own forehead. Mrs. Schmitz came running from her corner and appeared before the two girls.

"Oh no, I should have sent you to the office right when you came in. Jasmine, try and calm her down. She needs to see the nurse." Just then Hiei felt a sharp pain in his own forehead, where his Jagan resided. He winced in pain as his hand flew up to try and conceal the glowing eye. Kurama noticed this and tried to put the two together. 'It must be her inner Jagan…Hiei's must be agitating it to come through, and hers is doing the same to his. This isn't good.'

Suddenly a short-winded scream came from the suffering girl. Everyone turned to see her head drop to the table, completely limp. Through her eyes, everything started to fade away into the darkness…

* * *

Sorry this was a bit shorter than the others. I just really wanted to leave off here. man i love cliffhangers, dont you?? Oh, wow, super emo, huh? Bet you didn't expect her to have a boyfriend, huh? Well, an ex now. But, yeah, I'm going to start getting into her past a bit, as I'm sure you're all dying to know. Duh. Hope to update again soon. Reviews are graciously welcomed, as well as criticism. So please don't hesitate to give me some advice on how to make it better, ok? D 


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